Pritchard hails Coleman's passion

Football Association of Wales president Phil Pritchard believes Chris Coleman's passion for his country makes him the right man to succeed Gary Speed.

Coleman, 41, was on Thursday confirmed as the new Wales manager on a contract that will take him through the qualifying campaign for the 2014 World Cup, and Pritchard says it was Coleman's burning desire to keep Wales moving forward after the sad death of previous manager Gary Speed that impressed.

"It hasn't been easy but it has been very pleasing for me and the council to know we have Chris on board to carry on the good work Gary did," Pritchard said.

"A lot of managers or potential managers are very similar in terms of qualification, but I have to say as a Welshman, passion comes through - the passion Chris has got to carry us forward, not only on behalf of the Welsh public and fans but particularly with the thoughts of Gary in the background.

"He has a lot of reasons why he wants to do it right for us and we are confident we have got the right man."

Coleman's appointment came just over a week after his departure from Greek side Larissa, who wasted little time in signalling their intention to take legal action against the FAW to secure compensation over the loss of the former boss, who they claim remains under contract.

But Press Association Sport understands the FAW are confident that they and Coleman have been thorough and correct in all matters relating to his appointment, and they believe Larissa's failure to pay Coleman and members of his staff due to their financial problems amounts to a breach of contract.

Coleman, who says he will take a "background" role for his first game in charge against Costa Rica next month, a fixture which is being held in Speed's honour, is to hold talks with his squad and the staff who served under his predecessor before making any decisions over the make-up of his own backroom team.

When asked if he thought the Wales squad would want to play for him, Coleman said: "What the guys want is they want it done professionally, they want structure.

"Long gone are the days from when I was a player that we used to meet up, have a game of golf and a couple of beers. Those days are finished, you don't prepare like that any more, not at the top level. We won't prepare like that."